Warmer Smiles
by Gairi
Summary: Mara Shepard isn't about to let her best friend roam around her homeworld alone. When Joker suggests trading colonies for a day, he wasn't expecting Mindoir to be so… cold. He was raised on Tiptree, land of the six-month summers. Ten minutes in the snow during the walk to Mara's old house might just be too long for our intrepid pilot… Oneshot. Minimal fluff/budding romance.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Mass Effect or any of its characters, items, or locations. The "Mara" part of Mara Shepard belongs to me, as does the writing itself.

* * *

><p>"Welcome to Mindoir, Joker."<p>

The pilot shuddered and tugged his hat down as far as it would go. It barely covered the tips of his ears. "Why am I here?"

Mara shot him a pointed look, reminding him with her eyes that he was the one who suggested "trading colonies", and he burrowed his face into his jacket.

"A little chilly for you?"

"Shut up," he muttered into his zipper. "How did you even live here?"

She grinned. "It was gorgeous in spring. Cherry blossoms everywhere, the temperature a comfy 20 C…"

"20 C?" He repeated incredulously. He stared at her with skeptical eyes before shaking his head. "Now I know why you're so nuts."

Mara laughed and linked her arm in his, looking around at the snow-covered yard that used to be hers.

It was nice of the transport driver to drop them off at Mara's old home—now a cozy bed and breakfast—but Joker's complaints that _he_ should have been the one driving had taken their toll. The driver refused to take them to the carport outside, instead grouchily demanding his too-low fee and kicking them out at the foot of the driveway.

"See that?" Mara said, pointing to a window on the second floor. "That was my old room. I'm pretty sure that's where we're staying; I told the hostess I wanted it."

"I'm surprised there aren't more people here. This place isn't called 'the famous Shepard house' or whatever?"

Mara shook her head. "No, thank God," she sighed. "If it was, they'd be swamped. I like it better like this—just a sleepy little B&B out in the Mindoir countryside."

"So how far are we from… y'know, civilization?" Joker asked, craning his neck to look over his shoulder.

Mara slipped her arm away from his and pointed at the dim city lights in the distance. "That's the main colony. By foot, we're a little more than an hour away."

"By foot?"

She nodded. "I walked it a couple times with my friends and my cousin." A sickly feeling rose in the pit of her stomach and she looked down.

"You okay?"

"No."

Joker peered at her curiously. "What hit you? Somethin' about… y'know?"

Slowly, cautiously, she nodded. It was almost like she was afraid of moving too much.

He moved so one arm was bracing her back, supporting her physically to match the emotions. "It's not now, Mars. It's then."

The words came out with a puff of frosted breath. "I know."

Joker sighed, letting out a frozen huff to match her own. "You wanna go inside? I'm tellin' you, I seriously think I have frostbite."

Mara's upset expression broke into a thin smile. "Joker, you've been out here for literally ten minutes."

"Yeah, and it's literally ten below. So much for your comfy 20 C, huh?"

The smile turned into a full grin. "Oh, come on, you big baby. You can't stand the cold; you were raised in Burntskin, Tiptree."

"Hey, at least Burntskin's warm."

* * *

><p><em>A.N.: I'm rewriting and restyling my old oneshot Welcome Home in celebration of hitting the 100 review mark for Shooting Stars! Since the oneshots aren't "canon" with the events of Shooting Stars itself (the ship and characters are the same, however), I figured I'd leave the first Welcome Home <em>_where it was and post this as a new oneshot! If you like, consider it Welcome Home 2.0. If not, just call it Warmer Smiles. I'm noticing a two-word trend with my Mass Effect fic titles. Hmm._

_This oneshot is five hundred words, the same length as my chapters in Shooting Stars and 100 words less than the original Welcome Home. If I made any mistakes, please don't hesitate to let me know in a PM or a review._

_-Gairi_


End file.
